Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao: Final Grades for the Superfight Event
Five years of fencing before the announcement. Two months of hype before fight week. Seven days of posturing before the opening bell. Thirty-six minutes of interaction before the verdict.
And now, all of a sudden, Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao is history.
A little hard to believe, isn't it?
But fear not. Knowing that drama-dependent boxing fans will be jonesing for another fix before there's another actual fight—Canelo Alvarez vs. James Kirkland—to pay attention to this weekend, we've decided to give one final group of assessments to the superfight that was.
Take a look at what we've come up with over eight individual criteria and an overall grade, and feel free to drop a line or two—c'mon, as if you could help yourself—in the comments section.
Fight Week (Presser, Weigh-In, Etc.)
1 of 9
Perhaps the most signature (and surprising) element of the promotion was the almost overwhelmingly cordial manner in which the two fighters handled themselves after half a decade of headline-making bickering.
The civility carried all the way into fight week, where the final media gathering on Wednesday was marked by far more dissension between promoter Bob Arum and Showtime executive Stephen Espinoza than between either of the fighters or direct members of their entourages.
The weigh-in was more of the same, with Mayweather arriving in all-business, but not at all disrespectful mode, while Pacquiao was smilingly giddy and seemed happiest when gesturing toward the religious messaging on his Friday evening T-shirt.
All in all, it was a tepid end to a tepid promotion. It wasn't awful by any stretch but not so memorable either.
Grades: Mayweather C; Pacquiao C.
Trash Talk
2 of 9
OK, so the fighters didn't exactly break through to the "interesting" side of the trash-talk scale.
Have no fear, fans of competitive chattering, Freddie Roach had your back.
Pacquiao's veteran trainer was more than up to the task of throwing verbal grenades on his man's behalf. He started at the first presser with a promise to his imminent foe that his man was going to "kick his ass," claimed early in the training cycle that Mayweather was beating up girls in sparring and ultimately upped the ante by suggesting that the entire good-doing world was rooting for Pacquiao, not Mayweather.
By contrast, The Money Team was angelic in its collective approach.
Oh sure, there was the occasional headline involving either Mayweather or his trainer dad, but the Manny-side combination of Roach and Bob Arum established an early commanding lead and never looked back.
Grades: Mayweather C; Pacquiao B.
Walk-In/Entrance/Entourage
3 of 9
The fight itself may have been labeled a dud by the masses, but the entourage vs. entourage battle was a barnburner.
Pacquiao scored a clean jab with the inclusion of longtime fan Jimmy Kimmel in the mix, and Kimmel ratcheted things up with Justin Bieber-inspired gold chains, a brimmed hat and an athletic jacket over a black T-shirt embellished with the Pac-Man logo preparing to eat three tiny Mayweather heads.
Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach even took time to stop for a selfie upon exiting the locker room, a move that was funny at the time but seemed silly about an hour later.
On the other side, Bieber was in his usual spot in the Mayweather mix, but he was outshone by a new addition to the flock—the Burger King himself—who, according to ESPN's Darren Rovell, cost the company a cool million in proximity fees.
Grades: Mayweather A; Pacquiao A
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Ring Attire
4 of 9
There are few matches for Frank Deford when it comes to anything in the journalism game.
But when it came down to discussing the elements of Mayweather and Pacquiao's ring attire, the veteran NPR commentator was even further ahead of the pack than usual.
"Whatever you may think about boxing, this particular match has become the tackiest sports event this side of hot-dog eating. All of the pre-fight talk has been about money, money, money. Mayweather has a mouthguard worth $25,000 and it's made of hundred dollar bills. Meanwhile, Phillipine firms are paying to clutter up Pacquiao's trunks with more than $2 million worth of advertisements. It's safe to say that he's hitting it big below the belt.
"
Mayweather, as it turned out, broke from usual tendency and displayed the name Hublot—a luxury Swiss watch brand—on the waistband of his metallic black and gold trunks. Whether he raked in as much money as Pacquiao is one thing, but the style was at least a level better than the Filipino's endorsement-dotted yellow cloth number.
Grades: Mayweather B; Pacquiao C
Sticking to the Game Plan
5 of 9
The supplemental means of measuring the fighters' performances from Saturday night are one thing, but when it came to what actually occurred in the ring, Mayweather separated himself almost from the start.
His modus operandi was hardly a secret. Use his speed, precision, defense and legs to blunt Pacquiao's aggression, slow his work rate and render him as offensively useless as a of couple opponents from the recent past—namely Robert Guerrero and Canelo Alvarez—had been.
What seemed improbable, if not downright impossible, was that a 38-year-old man could do that to a guy who many labeled as the best fighter of his generation.
But do it he did.
Of course, Pacquiao's subsequent claim of a shoulder injury that's apparently going to require surgery might provide a convenient out for those unhappy about the outclassing. But whether he was healthy for all of the fight or just some of it, he never showed anywhere near the level of destructive intent he and Roach promised.
Grades: Mayweather A; Pacquiao D
Listening to the Corner
6 of 9
In Pacquiao's case, it wasn't so much a question of not following corner instructions as it was being in with a guy who wasn't exactly allowing Freddie Roach's instructions to be carried out.
Roach pleaded for combinations and cutting off the ring and occasionally got both, but neither was anywhere near to the level that would have been necessary.
“He did pretty well, working on putting him on the ropes and keeping him guessing,” the trainer said at the post-fight press conference. “I thought those flurries there when we got him against the ropes were good, but we didn’t do enough of it.”
Meanwhile, Mayweather probably never stepped on the gas to the extent that his trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr., would have wanted, but it was more than enough.
"I'm a calculated fighter, he is a tough competitor," Mayweather said. "My dad wanted me to do more, but Pacquiao is an awkward fighter."
Grades: Mayweather B; Pacquiao C
Imposing His Will
7 of 9
It's a phrase more often associated with aggression, but the level to which Mayweather imposed his strategic will on Pacquiao won him the fight.
Just as he's done with nearly every opponent in the latter years of his career, Mayweather plays better defense, returns fire more precisely and moves out of harm's way faster than foes expect. And before they know it, their work rates are impacted, and they lull themselves right out of a fight.
Pacquiao's will would have looked a lot different had it ever been close to imposition.
The Filipino wanted to initiate exchanges, pin Mayweather on the ropes or in the corners and simply overwhelm him with flurries of punches from angles he was not expecting to see. But outside of a few barrages here and there—and even then, most shots hit arms, elbows or gloves—it was closer to willful misconduct.
Grades: Mayweather A; Pacquiao D
In-Ring Post-Fight Interview
8 of 9
Pacquiao guaranteed himself a headline and ultimately provided HBO's Max Kellerman with a migraine, thanks to a surprising assertion that he thought he'd won the fight.
Kellerman was noticeably stunned by the claim, and his follow-up line of questioning—asking Pacquiao where such a claim came from—has made him public enemy No. 1 to the legions of fans who came into Saturday night expecting Filipino domination.
No one in the Pacquiao entourage mentioned the would-be shoulder injury until the press conference.
Mayweather's control of things during the fight made his chat with Showtime's Jim Gray less meaningful by definition, leaving an interaction chock full of the usual shout-outs, thank yous and critiques of the beaten opponent as a heck of a fighter and a true world champion.
In fact, the only real compelling nugget was his promise to fight once more in September to fill out his Showtime contract, rather than retiring after what will surely go down as his career's biggest win.
Grades: Mayweather C; Pacquiao B.
Overall
9 of 9
He wasn't the all-in villain during the promotion and his ring walk, though character-studded, wasn't nearly as incendiary as it was against Arturo Gatti. But those are just quibbles.
And no matter how scuffed his cleats might have been, it would be hard to give Mayweather anything other than full-on positive grades for pitching a two-hit shutout in the biggest start of his pro career.
Pacquiao, on the flip side, gets a little different treatment.
His side won the trash-talk war, his persona at the weigh-in was giddy and inviting, and his ring walk was interesting, if nothing else. But once the bell rang, he resembled a high school kid vying for a doctorate.
There's no shame in losing to the best fighter of a generation, but there's no commendation either.
Grades: Mayweather A; Pacquiao C
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